Tuesday, May 26, 2015

I'll be the first to admit that my... somewhat unorthodox approach to squad building in X-Wing doesn't always pay dividends. I spend too much on whiz-bang gadgets, end up with too few ships on the table... and then the swarm-stomp eats my lunch. I am too enamored with those shiny Mangler Cannons, and Proton Missiles, and Engine Upgrades, and Elite Skills, and, and, and...

The most logical (read: boring) outcome would be that I use those losses as a teaching moment, and change my tactics.

Never happens.

If ever I am close to revisiting my tactics, the five year old in me drags it's grape-jelly-slathered angsty self to the forefront of my conscience, stomps its dirty foot, and steadfastly insists I keep hitting myself in the head with the hammer... because the next time will be different. I never learn, and it never is.

Except... when it works...

Rewind the clock to about a month ago. Maniacal laughter echoed throughout the house as I exuberantly sprained my arm patting myself on the back. I had undoubtedly cobbled together The Scum List To End All Scum Lists (TSLTEASL). Came up with a sooper-slick moniker for this I-WIN button... "Mangled Crow". How cool is that?! No need to be a gracious loser this time... no sir! I would sustain myself on the tears...

Whatever. You get the point.

PS7 Palob would front this merry band of sure-fire-thing; dealing scorching death death from range 3 and stacking Focus so high I wouldn't be able to see my opponent across the table. His backup singers, the Three Sisters of the Critpocalypse, would make short work of pesky low-PS Tie Fighters with their Manglers... gleefully shredding cockpits and setting fires as they flit about the board like angry crit-slinging wasps.

At least... that was the plan...

Secure in the knowledge that the world was simply not prepared for my level of genius, I anxiously awaited the scheduled arrival of my prey... ahem, my worthy opponent.

Then, it happened...

The rotten no-good, double-dealing, floor-flushing such-and-such rails against my meticulously constructed plan for cosmic domination. Instead of the expected Tie Swarm variant, jerk drops a PS8 Decimator on the table, with Expose and a Mercenary Copilot in the passenger seat. Thus ensuring any defeat was as humiliating as possible. I think Kir Kanos and a couple of Academy Pilots may have been thrown in there for good measure. Not sure, as I was too fixated on that stupid Decimator to really notice.

In case you haven't caught on at this juncture... this is not the part that works. Not even close. To be fair, Mangled Crow is not a bad list. I fully believe it would have performed, had I not suffered from an acute case of cranial-rectal inversion for the entirety of the game. I won't relay the blow-by-blow, as it is too painful and too recent for me to confront. Suffice to say; mistakes were made. I ran the Three Sisters way too close and spent the first three rounds playing bumper-car conga line with them... leaving them unable to perform even the simplest of action. However, the pinnacle of idiocy that day... the true Pièce de résistance of ineptitude, was the number of times I did not fire the Manglers.

See... Palob needs to blow a Focus to fire that Blaster Turret. I was so focused (heh) on keeping Palob alive that I deluded myself into believing that the same held true for the Manglers. As The Sisters had no Focus (or anything else action-related) for half the game... they were relegated to a 2-dice attack. Right?

Wrong. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Inevitable result is inevitable. I lost. Soundly.

The image of a gloating Decimator was seared into my brain, framed in the burning wreckage of what was once TSLTEASL. I vowed at that dark moment I would accommodate neither sleep nor sustenance until the glorious day I see it fall (not strictly true... I've slept and eaten plenty since then).

From that ignoble defeat, came the spark that would become TLTAW... The List That Actually Works. However, as this post is already well past wall-of-text, TLTAW will have to wait until the sequel: Part II, This Time It's Again.

My interest in standard board games is strictly hit-or-miss. And, as a general rule; movies, games, or books of the classic horror genre which don't have at least a sprinkling of scifi elements don't get my propeller spinning. So when a friend showed up at the house for a regular X-Wing session with Betrayal at the House on the Hill tucked neatly under his arm... I was less than enthusiastic. As 50% of the other members of my household are unappreciative of war-gaming, and in the interest of crossing off from the to-do list the obligatory "do something with the family this weekend", I accepted my fate of abject boredom and dejectedly settled in at the kitchen table.

Wrong is wrong... and I was indeed that.

Outside of the weird title, which still feels to me like a bunch of words strewn together for effect, I can find absolutely nothing to complain about when it comes to this board game. As I have elevated nit-picking and complaining to an arcane art form, that's saying something. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I immediately placed an order on Amazon for a personal copy.

BatHotH (looks even dumber as a acronym... lets just call it "Betrayal" from here on out) is a Wizards of the Coast offering touted as a "fun and suspenseful game" which "is a new experience almost every time you play". Recommended age is 12+, and the game is designed to be played with 3-6 players. You could probably make it work with a two-player session, but the experience would be diminished for the good-guy side as it would be extremely rough going. The 'why' of that last bit is explained below.

At first glance Betrayal appears to be a standard build-as-you-explore format. Player characters advance through the square grid'd map and tiles are randomly drawn as the player moves through a door or up/down a staircase to reveal the 'room' beyond. As the room card is revealed, a symbol printed on the room tile corresponds to one of three specific piles of randomized cards and indicates whether the player has discovered an item, unleashed a random creepy (and generally highly detrimental) event, or unearthed an 'omen' and accelerated the encroachment of the "haunt". It is the "haunt" mechanic that makes this game stand out.

While I won't go into the minutia of the game mechanics, suffice to say the players want to hold off the haunt as long as possible while gathering items and powers will assist them once all hell breaks loose. The more 'omens' that are on the table, the better the chance (its a die roll) that the haunt begins and the players are up against it.

Here's the hook: there's a traitor in the player's midst, and no one playing has any idea who that malcontent is until the haunt begins. Not even the soon-to-be traitor themselves. So while the first portion of the game is 100% cooperative, there is an overarching air of suspicion and tension... however unjust. Once the haunt finally drops, players reference an easy-to-read table based on the name of the room where the last omen was drawn, the player who drew it, and a small number of other factors. This provides a 1-100 result which corresponds to a page number in the included "DO NOT READ" scenario booklet. It is at this point that that traitor's identity is revealed (much to everyone's surprise) and the vs. phase of the game begins, with the traitor on the side of the house/monsters.

The end result is 100 separate potential scenarios involving anything from werewolves to carnivorous creeping vine plants to vengeful soul-sucking poltergeists. The good guy players receive one set of secret instructions/goals, the traitor receives a differing set of secret instructions/goals, and the information is not shared between the two. The traitor knows that the players are up to something which could defeat the monster(s), but not exactly what that 'something' is... and vice versa. The game is won once one side is, erm... well... dead.

This all translates into 2-5 players on the side of good (more akin to "survive") versus 1 player and an equivalent number of monsters on the evil house side. Despite the apparent inequity in numbers, the game is remarkably scaled depending on total number of players and balanced enough to ensure both sides have a fighting chance at ultimate success.

The randomization of potential scenarios and layout of the house itself, and the fact that the the "bad guy" could be any player in any game, make Betrayal eminently re-playable. There are elements to the game that some may find disturbing (ritualized demonic summoning, lots of gruesome descriptions, pervasive creepy concepts, monsters, etc.), so not strictly a "for the whole family" entertainment option. Age 12+ is probably close to spot-on. YMMV

In case it wasn't painfully apparent, I thoroughly enjoy this game and have no issue making it a strong recommend. As a bonus... it makes the "spend family time" obligation much less painful. As of this writing the second edition version (most recent) it is going for under $35.00 on Amazon.

Monday, May 25, 2015

As if not readily apparent; the touted revitalization of RD&C did not go according to plan. Life... it happens. Long hours of work, vis-à-vis short hours for play, means prioritizing towards actually playing these games over which I obsess and devoting considerably less effort towards endless trimming-gluing-priming-painting-rinse-repeat cycles.

So... that's exactly what I did. Rolled some dice. Actually, a lot of dice. Not well... but damned if I didn't roll 'em anyway. The gods of random chance have been cruel as ever with the actual dice rolled I needed... but it was a fine change of pace. Easy to forget, when you're knee deep in discarded sprues and resin flakes, that there are supposed to be, you know... games in the mix somewhere.

And... if I were to be completely honest; the dizzying rapid-fire release of a new $50.00+ hardback codex(es), which utterly invalidates the previous $50.00 hardback codex you bought nary a year ago (looking at you Craftworlds, and soon to be Space Marines) leaves a sour tinge in my mouth and causes this writer to lean towards 'somewhat numb' from a creative standpoint.

So here's the scoop: RD&C is not dead. 40K still a passion, though I am focusing more on 'skirmish' builds and Kill Team games. May even revisit Special Operations Killzone for another go. For me, skirmish scale is simply more entertaining and manageable. That said... RD&C is branching out to other facets of war gaming. Evolve or stagnate.

X-Wing eats up a well-deserved portion of my gaming cycles as of late. Three full tackle-boxes of Scum, Rebel, and Empire (not counting the GR-90 or CR-75... which fit in exactly no carry case of reasonable size) attest to the unhealthy level of infatuation I have for this game. Already have a number of articles queued up on this very subject, and those shall be filling space on RD&C in short order. In the interim, I highly recommend The Metal Bikini (http://www.themetalbikini.com/) and Unofficial X-Wing Squadron Builder (http://xwing-builder.co.uk/build)... if you weren't already in-the-know.

Wave 7 fascinates me, and it is a forgone conclusion that at least one K-Wing...

...and three Kihraxz...

...will be resting atop the already preposterous pile of FFG plastic in the collection, immediately upon availability. Now, if only the damnable Imperial Raider would touch down in stores.

Unsurprisingly, I'm already core+two expansion packs deep into Armada as well. At this point it might be more efficient to simply direct deposit my paycheck into FFG's corporate account.

And then there's Infinity...

At any rate, that's enough blathering on for the time being. If you're still here, thanks for sticking around.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Taking stock after emerging from an extended encounter with an intense and lengthy reality storm. By all appearances the dreadful environment I was forced to endure on that pitiless plane of existence seems to have left me no worse for wear. My sanity too appears no less fragile than two years ago when RD&C communications ceased without warning. A minor miracle, considering the maleficent nature of the Reality Plane denizens with which I was forced to do battle. Twisted, vile daemons with despicable monikers such as "Physician" and "Lawyer". Both of whom used the most heinous of their nefarious talents in repeated attempts to drain the lifeblood from my broken body. Escaped though I have, it would be dishonest if stated I will not cautiously peer over my shoulder every day in clammy anticipation of them locating me... only to drag me back to that dark pit of despair they laughingly call "the real world".

Now that I am returned... I see that much has been neglected, and much more remains to be discussed. So much time has passed... so much to accomplish...

(Short Version: down for two years due to real life ridiculousness, but I'm back-in-black ladies and gents. And Holy Hoppin' Horus has a lot transpired between then and now. I have some catch-up ahead of me)

Crackin' my knuckles and sorting my ideas. May take a day or two for me to prioritize projects and snag some decent pix, but expect posting to resume on a fairly regular basis any day now. I have a few new FW kits/bits I'll want to highlight, a couple of kitbashes which deserve the light of day, and an extensive collection of half-finished cityscape terrain/buildings that are just begging for grim-dark completeness.

Just a matter of what I wish to address first. I'll get back to you on that. Soon.

If you stuck around... appreciate you doing so. I'll see what I can do to not disappoint.

There's an emo space elfie one too. If you want that one bad enough... you can find it.

So... I know I'm not the sharpest spoon in the drawer, and admittedly I'm not very well read on the We're-Not-Chaos-No-Really-We-Promise crew (never been a big fan), but I am seriously failing to see why ye olde Dark Angels Deathwing are now the flavor-of-the-month. Everyone seems to be clearing the shelves of green and cream paint after this FAQ. Someone help me out here... why all of the sudden are DA a viable force to reckon with? Where's the magic 'win' button in those FAQs?

Yeah yeah... I know. I haven't posted a damn thing I said I was going to earlier in the week. I'm short pictures, and I've been too lazy to whip out the tripod (pretty sure there's an off-color joke in there somewhere). It's the weekend, so I'm all over it.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Recovery from the insanity of the silly season in progress. While a full week off of work is a singular joy, catching up on the backlog that time off creates is the inky black fabric of nightmares. Ten days into twenty eleven and I'm caught up enough to refocus on that which is truly important... Boy Barbies.

In the event you hadn't seen the latest Forge World must-have, I give you the magnificent Tyberos the Red Wake:

Dual chainfists under each lightning claw... nice (if a tad over-the-top goofy). And loving the Mk.V-esque helm. Shark fins at the base of the LC blades need to go. Otherwise... perfect. Price isn't terrible either (for FW at least). I smell a new Spectres HQ/IC coming on.

Incoming this week:

- More Void Spectres background. To include an introduction of their non-Astartes auxiliary (mercenary) forces, the Smoke Jackals. That armored car and cavalry tank built so long ago have finally found purpose.

- All the pieces for the Mk.II + Achilles + Extra Armour Land Raider build-up are prepped for production. Possibility of a WIP pictures thread from beginning to end. No promises though.

- Hab Blocks One and Two are mounted, rough painted, with proper 'glass' windows installed. Pictures incoming with plans and premise.

- First attempt at an objective literature/game system/add-on review: Special Operations Killzone. Going to try to make this feature a more common occurrence, and attempt to focus on the stuff that hasn't already been reviewed eleventy-grillion times before.

- Kustom-ish Ork Kommandos pix and background.

- That's five things above... you're looking for a sixth?

Ambitious list, I know. Trying to keep RD&C a little more current in ought 'leven. It was either that or quit smoking as a New Year's resolution.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Since it's (almost) Saturnalia, I'll step outside my own little self-absorbed world and promote a couple of projects which are well deserving of attention.

First up, Big Jim over @ Galaxy in Flames indicates a Special Operations: Killzone update is imminent. Sounds like there's been some significant reworking of the PDFs and all sorts of adjustments and additions. Supposed to be up Friday evening. Links:

Second in order (but not cool factor) is another squad-based combat offering in Mordheimer and crew's Death Squads. Death Squads differs from Killzone in that it is extremely character-centric, with enough customization options to choke a grox. Well suited for long-term campaigns. Newly revised version, now in a split core/scenario format for less printer ink pain, due for release any second. Great stuff.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Let's see if we can't get this 40K train back on its tracks... shall we?

A few weeks back a posted a bit of random fluffery which, without context, likely doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense. I wanted to get it ‘down on paper’ so it wasn’t forever relegated to the idea dustbin… forgotten due to my ridiculously short attention span. Re-copied below for reference with (somewhat verbose) perspective after. TLDR crowd skip to the bottom for synopsis.

The Emperor is dead. Vanquished millennia ago. His physical form obliterated and his essence cast to the void. Brought low in the cyclopean final struggle with his tainted prodigal son.

Utterly broken, bonding his spirit to his wrecked form though sheer force of will, Horus unleashed a final nefarious gambit. So infused with unfathomable malevolent energies was Horus that the staunchest of Astartes was made to believe through warpcraft that the shattered form laying before them was that of their beloved Emperor. Tears in their eyes, the finest soldiers in the Imperium reverently carried the most heinous creature born of man back to Terra and dutifully followed his instructions in the building of the life-sustaining Golden Throne. So wracked with grief that never did they question the monstrous cost or motivation. And thus did Horus achieve ultimate, treacherous victory. Absolute and unquestioning worship as a living god by every soul in the vast Imperium of Man.

The Imperium crumbles upon itself. The darkness which festers at its core rots it from within. Unfortunate pawns, the mislead dutiful zealously guard and protect the very evil they are forsworn to destroy. Though it pains to bring harm to the virtuous; if enlightenment to the treacherous truth is not possible, the ignorant and the stubborn must be swept aside. Their immortal fate is not ours to decide.

Until the last, never shall rest come until the Golden Throne is torn asunder and the malignancy is ripped from the very heart of the Imperium.

First off; conscience-driven full disclosure in that the basic premise is not mine. Some time ago I stumbled across a well written short story, one which I can no longer locate, that sets up the concept. Reading that story was one of those “YES!” moments for me, and I ran with it because it meshes so well with the rest of my cheese… er, umm… ‘fluff’. Here’s the overview:

Commonly accepted accounts of the Heresy are relatively accurate, allowing for the passage of eons and random embellishment by transcribers, right up to the final conflict on the bridge of Horus’ battle barge. Horus however was not utterly destroyed by selfless sacrifice of the Emperor of Mankind. In fact, it is the inverse which is wholly accurate. It was Horus who bested and obliterated the Emperor; so swelled with nefarious energy and reinforced by Warp entities that he was neigh unstoppable. The enormous energy expenditure required to combat such an opponent left Horus drained as never before. In this debilitated state, Horus was momentarily vulnerable. The Emperor’s last great act of defiance (conceivably with the assistance of Sanguinus… though this possibility is in dispute as the timeline of Sanguinus’ demise, before or after the Emperor fell, is uncertain) was to lash out with all that was left in him, leaving Horus severely wounded… but far from impotent. Such was the force of Horus’ psychic rage in retaliation that the energy he directed completely annihilated the Emperor’s physical (and potentially, ethereal) form.

Knowing his life essence was slowly leaving him, and left with few options, Horus perpetrated the ultimate deception. The loyalist forces rushing to the aid of their Emperor found a broken, twisted, and unrecognizable form. Through strength of psychic will, Horus clouded their minds and left the faithful convinced he was in fact their beloved and ‘triumphant’ Emperor. Dutifully they conveyed the object of all their hatred back to Terra, and followed his instructions to the letter in the building of the ‘salvation of mankind’, the Golden Throne. Rumors exist that such was the intellect of Malcador the Sigilite he saw through the ruse, but was dispatched by Horus before an alarm could be raised. However, these accounts are anecdotal at best.

Thus did Horus achieve ultimate victory. Adored and sustained by Mankind’s countless billions, his very existence at the core of the Imperium sews discontent, malice, paranoia, fear, and uncertainty… slowly corrupting and crumbling the Imperium from within.

Synopsis:

- Horus drops the Emperor like a bad habit

- Horus convinces the loyalists that he is the Golden Boy

- Loyalists build an infernal machine to Horus’ exacting specifications, and place him in it to be worshiped for all eternity

- Horus wins

I latched onto this premise for a number of reasons, not the least of which is my penchant to be drawn to the antihero archetype. With the above, the Void Spectres get to play both the good guy and bad guy role at the same time, without all that messy chaos complication. They know the ‘truth’ and ain’t havin’ none of it. No… we don’t really want to slaughter those Imperial Fists. Damn shame they have bought into the lie though… tough luck, that.

There are actually a number of background threads throughout canon 40K fluff which (both directly and indirectly) could support the Horus on the Golden Throne theory. Examples:

1) Horus deceived a significant portion of Astartes into betraying everything they hold dear, and consigned them to an eternity of misery and pain in pursuit of his cause. What better target for their never-ending enmity and loathing. Of course they know the ‘truth’ about the current resident of the Throne, and every self respecting Chaos Space Marine has cried “Death to the False Emperor!”

2) The Golden Throne consumes innumerable souls to sustain the ‘Emperor’. Not exactly benevolent, and even stretches the ‘needs of the many’ concept. Warp entities consume souls. Interesting parallel.

3) Since the internment, the Imperium has been in steady (and sometimes rapid) decline. It could be theorized that the pace of rot is greater even than could be explained by negligence or the absence of a ‘live’ Emperor. Fear, uncertainty, and paranoia are the norm. A vessel through which the Ruinous Powers could work directly, situated at the very heart of the Imperium? Convenient.

Am I saying this is the One Truth to Rule Them All? No. Pretty sure it isn't. But that’s not going to stop me. Dovetails nicely into The World As Dryw Sees It, and that’s really all that matters.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

It would seem I have no shame. Two weeks without a word and my first update is a plug to sell models. Unfortunately I find myself in a position where I need to scoop together some cash in short order. No sob story, just household and automobile issues which require immediate attention. So I dug under the table and came up with this motly assortment of Eldar which could use a loving home. They certainly aren't going to get any attention here. Essentially its an Eldar Battleforce + Striking Scorpions Box + Warp Spiders Box.

The Wave Serpent is almost completely assembled, but the turret weapons are not yet glued... leaving the new owner the option of replacing the weapons. Cleaned, sanded, primed and put together by yours truly. The War Walker is in similar good condition, just not assembled yet. Here's the breakdown:

What you see in the pictures is exactly what you'll get. I believe one infantry model (either Avenger or Guardian... them Eldar confuse me) is missing a head. I am reletively certain that every other piece is there. $125.00 + $10.00 shipping (to anywhere in the continental US only please) is the asking price. That's like getting one of the Aspect Warrior boxes for free. Not being elitist by any means limiting it to US folks only, but shipping overseas can be troublesome for a private individual (me) and the cost would likely push the asking price close to what the stuff would cost you retail. PayPal is the preferred payment method.

If you're interested please drop an email to rdceramite at gmail dot com, and then leave a comment here in this post indicating the same so I know to check my spam filters. Selling this will definitely assist.

I truly appreciate you taking the time to consider the above.

-Dryw

p.s. I have a ton of Orky goodness that I may list soon as well. Friend of mine is pouring over my list of demands and if that falls through you can expect to see that info here. After that, I'll stop. Promise.

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Emperor is dead. Vanquished millennia ago. His physical form obliterated and his essence cast to the void. Brought low in the cyclopean final struggle with his tainted prodigal son.

Utterly broken, bonding his spirit to his wrecked form though sheer force of will, Horus unleashed a final nefarious gambit. So infused with unfathomable malevolent energies was Horus that the staunchest of Astartes was made to believe through warpcraft that the shattered form laying before them was that of their beloved Emperor. Tears in their eyes, the finest soldiers in the Imperium reverently carried the most heinous creature born of man back to Terra and dutifully followed his instructions in the building of the life-sustaining Golden Throne. So wracked with grief that never did they question the monstrous cost or motivation. And thus did Horus achieve ultimate, treacherous victory. Absolute and unquestioning worship as a living god by every soul in the vast Imperium of Man.

The Imperium crumbles upon itself. The darkness which festers at its core rots it from within. Unfortunate pawns, the mislead dutiful zealously guard and protect the very evil they are forsworn to destroy. Though it pains to bring harm to the virtuous; if enlightenment to the treacherous truth is not possible, the ignorant and the stubborn must be swept aside. Their immortal fate is not ours to decide.

Until the last, never shall rest come until the Golden Throne is torn asunder and the malignancy is ripped from the very heart of the Imperium.